Review:7914 Mandalorian Battle Pack/NovaFlare
Joined: December 29, 2006 
№ of Reviews: 17 
№ of Featured reviews: 1
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A nice army builder, but could be better[edit | edit source]
This was one of two battle packs released in 2011, the other being the 7913 Clone Trooper Battle Pack (reviewed here), and gives you the opportunity to get some Mandalorian Death Watch soldiers.
The set[edit | edit source]
The set features two items, something I like to see a battle pack as it gives you a bit more playability than just having a single model. The models in the set are a small speeder, and a turret. The turret is nice to have, but doesn't really have any remarkable features- the gun can obviously swivel around, but that's about it. It does feature a piece with studs joined perpendicularly to a semi-circle, which forms a ring around the top of the turret, which reminded me of one of the original battle packs which had a similar design going on.
The speeder in my opinion is very well done- it's compact, uses an appropriate colour scheme, and looks a lot like the speeder it represents- the Balutar-class swoop. Here's a comparison of the two:
http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110916061950/starwars/images/thumb/f/f5/BalutarClassSwoop-SWE.jpg/220px-BalutarClassSwoop-SWE.jpg
Printed parts would have been appreciated for a bit more accuracy, but honestly for me at least, this is definitely a good enough representation of the speeder and the extra detail isn't really necessary.
The whole set only has 68 pieces, which is on the lower end of the scale for the number of pieces in a battle pack. There have been fewer in other battle packs, but I do feel that it would have been nice to have maybe used a few more pieces to the turret to slightly improve the overall look of it, or to add another feature to one of the models, even if it would have been just a flick-fire missile which some people seem to dread. That said, there isn't a huge point having a larger piececount just for the sake of having more pieces, and the models do look complete as they are.
The minifigures[edit | edit source]
I'm not very impressed with these minifigures, but given what LEGO had to work with, I think they did a pretty good job. The main and most obvious reason that I don't like this minifigure selection is that they're all exactly the same. I usually like a little variety in battle packs, and this just doesn't happen here. That's because in 2011 when the set was released, in The Clone Wars every Mandalorian except Pre Vizsla had exactly the same armour, therefore meaning that LEGO couldn't really have made any minifigure different if they wanted to. I do find this disappointing, both in the TV series and in LEGO form, that we don't get to see some more personalised and a wider variety of armour that the Mandalorians are so famous for- it would have been nice to have had maybe a red and a yellow Mandalorian for instance to go along with two grey and blue ones. The faces on these minfiigures are a bit frightening, and I think they could have done a better job of coming up with a design for a generic Mandalorian face. At least they have faces though, unlike several types of troopers up until 2012 which were left blank.
There is a nice array of accessories available for the minifigures in this set however. Each figure is equipped with a helmet and jetpack, both fairly rare and very useful and good looking pieces. There were rumours going around in 2010 that one or two of the minifigures would not have a jetpack piece, it's good to see that LEGO didn't make any cuts and outfitted every one of them with the accessories that they should have. One minifigure is armed with a blaster, another with a blaster rifle, both of which have been around since 2007 and are now quite mainstream pieces for Star Wars sets, while another has two blaster pistols at its disposal. The blaster pistol piece first appeared in this wave, so was at the time considered to be a new weapon, and I thought to two get two of them in a relatively cheap set was definitely a good thing.
The final minifigure, which is referred to as a Mandalorian Assassin sometimes by LEGO, while at other times, just as a Mandalorian like the rest, has what is meant to be a sniper rifle on a tripod. However, it ends up looking much more like a portable repeating blaster than anything else. It just looks too bulky to be a sniper rifle, and I just feel that there must have been a better way to represent this. Now in 2012, there probably is- using a gun mould introduced in the Dino theme with a telescope piece on top for a scope might have worked better, in a similar way to Major Quinton Steele's gun is set up. Anyway, it's still a useable weapon, and better than having two minifigures exactly the same with exactly the same accessories.
Overall[edit | edit source]
I am pleased with this set. Not overwhelmed, but it does have a nice selection of models, and the Mandalorian figures are certainly worth having.
- Pros
- Speeder well-designed
- Mandalorian helmet and torso design is perfect
- Good range of accessories
- Cons
- Minifigures are all the same
- Blaster turret platform could have maybe been slightly better designed, the gap on the sides looks a little strange to me
- Ratings
| Overall |    3½ / 5 |
| Play Experience | 3½ / 5 |
| Value for money | 3 / 5 |
| Model design | 4 / 5 |
| Minifigures | 3½ / 5 |
Basically, if you're not interested in Mandalorians, this obviously isn't the set for you. But if you're into Mandos, this is the set to get, and since the minifigures are all the same it's an extremely easy way to quickly build up an army of fearsome soldiers.
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